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You may have heard that the Miami Heat had a rather eventful offseason. They lost Ray Allen, Greg Oden, Shane Battier and a guy named LeBron James. Now there is no possible way to replace the best player in the universe, a harsh lesson that LeBron's new team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, are quite familiar with. When LeBron left the Cavs after the 2010 season it dealt a devastating blow to the franchise and sent a team that won 61 games, the most in the league in 2009-2010, to the second worst squad in the league with a paltry 19 wins the next year. However don't go ditching this Heat team for trips to the beach just yet because Miami has three all-stars and is going to be a playoff team barring a major injury.

New Faces Taking Their Talents To South Beach

So how do you go about even attempting to replace LeBron who was your main playmaker and led the team in points per game (27.1), rebounds (6.9) and assists (6.9)? Pat Riley went out an acquired the best small forward on the market in Luol Deng for a very reasonable 2-year $20 million contract. The former Bull and Cavalier brings versatility on both sides of the court and is a very good secondary player. The Heat also signed Josh McRoberts to a four-year, $23 million deal and Danny Granger on a two-year, $4.2 million contract. McRoberts gives the Heat a 6'10" power forward who shot 36 percent from downtown last year and should give Miami great spacing to allow Bosh to go down low more often. The Heat have never been shy about taking chances on reclamation projects in recent years with the likes of Greg Oden, Rashard Lewis, Michael Beasley and Chris Andersen. This year's opportunity to catch lightning in a bottle is Danny Granger. The one-time budding star for the Indiana Pacers hasn't averaged over double-digits since the 2011-2012 season, but the Heat are banking that he can provide some scoring punch off the bench. The Heat are hoping for big things from Shabazz Napier who they drafted late in the first round. Miami point guards Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole have not been world-beaters, plus Erik Spoelstra will want to limit Wade's minutes, meaning Napier could end up being a solid contributor.

Is This Chris Bosh's Team Now?

When LeBron left to return home to Cleveland, it forced Miami to keep Chris Bosh at all costs. That cost was a five-year, $118 million max contract because the Houston Rockets were eying up Bosh for their very own version of the "Big Three." With Wade in his declining years it will be up to Bosh to pick up the slack and return to his primary scorer ways like when he was netting 22 points per game for the Toronto Raptors. The big question mark is what can Dwayne Wade give you for an entire grueling NBA season? Last year he averaged 19 points, 4.7 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals while shooting a career-high 54.5 percent from the field. However in the playoffs he was exposed on defense. Age and injuries loom as a major concern going into the season with Wade (32), Bosh (30), Deng (29), Granger (31), Andersen (36), and Udonis Haslem (34). Wade, Bosh, Deng and Granger have all had injuries recently and if Bosh or Wade is out for any significant time it could sink their ship. For all the faults this team has, the core of this unit went to four straight NBA Finals and were on the verge of accomplishing the rare “three-peat,” a feat that has only been achieved by three other franchises in NBA history. So while there may no longer be a king in their realm, there is still basketball royalty to rule over their court.